


clouded out disguises and the grave

by futile_devices



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: (because you know. mickey doesnt know zelgius), Canon Compliant, I cannot tag, also on the same line as all delighted people just in how it deals with how others view him. which, hi! this isnt a narrative at all ! its just some thoughts i had while rereading RDs script !, i honestly think that zelgius would feel very guilty over how micaiah views the black knight, i should probably say that if you ship them maaaybe this isnt for you, i was vague enough i think but like. unrequited pining??? i dont know honestly, implied zelgius/sephiran because im weak and dumb, is why the title is another line ! i woudl die for sufjan stevens!, jus thinking about how mickey reminds him of sanaki and i just. thats his daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 19:06:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17945399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futile_devices/pseuds/futile_devices
Summary: “I understand. Then I shall not ask you why you have been absent. I want you to know, I'm happy to see you again. I am very glad you're safe.”But she should ask, then maybe it would put an end to this farce (because of course, Zelgius would never step out of line, never act on something that was not bid of him) before it very well kills him.And he should apologize. For all that he has said and all that he has not.But both the Black Knight and Zelgius are silent.[an interpretation of Zelgius and Micaiah's relationship]





	clouded out disguises and the grave

“I am here to protect you. There need be no other reason. Do not leave my side.”

The Maiden of Dawn stands bathed in light against the crowds of soldiers with bleeding hearts in her name and hers alone. What can he say of her? His soul is falsified in each ‘i shall be your shield’ and ‘my maiden’ and ‘i will protect you’’ but Zelgius is nothing if not an actor. Oh a part of him of course views her in such a brilliant portrait, for that is undeniable in her eternal fealty and simple desires, how quickly she would take that blade in herself if the ends so called for it. A beacon of hope, he cannot deny, yet it is exhausting each gaze of gold upon ebony armor as if his blood is not of lies. Suffocating, nearly, and it is worse to lie with silence rather than false words. For what would he apologize for? Following orders (but he could never, not at the very sliver of light he could strain to see) or finding resemblance (gold eyes. gold eyes and a commanding voice, confident and assured, he would be a fool to not see it, but that thought means nothing. he is merely searching for some semblance of the man he left and the child too)? Could the maiden understand that, or would she hold him in contempt, another traitor amidst this traitorous kingdom, another high hope fallen. In the silence of his heart, he speaks of apologies, but the Black Knight stands tall all the same, Alondite in protection and he knows that he would give his life for whatever was commanded of him (even if she would never know that; the command was never hers). 

Did that even matter to the maiden? Surely so, integrity and the honor of Daein (such a thought is hilarious to Zelgius, though perhaps that is merely the memory of a small, cold room, what was painted generosity in the face of complete abandonment or death) should be held upon so, for how else is this kingdom to move forward? The people cannot rally to a dishonest woman who employs dishonest means and advisers (even if that is the truer truth than whatever anyone else might think; to think that anyone is honest in this army, in this continent is a fool), or whatever dawn she plans to bring, his shadow cannot stand in it. 

Maybe that one order would never matter, for fate is fate, stringing upon its subjects upon thin lines of thread and tangling lives in and out. That one order that is his only reason for those falsified words, and Zelgius is not a man who would fail his song of songs, that only motivator for not casting aside his shackles in the form of pitch black armor that he has not left in weeks. Suffocating under the helmet, and the world bears upon him even heavier, and Alondite speaks louder, sweet sweet Altina’s voice (can she tell the secrets upon a pale palm? could she smile in seeing her blood or would the sight of zelgius beside her taint the sight? or would she forgive both of them for the sin she herself created in only the most pure of lonesome love?). Oh Zelgius has never wished to be this man bathed in the blackest of nights, yet every second under her golden gaze only holds his feet in place, the plating growing colder, and somehow he longs for a warmth he has never known. 

If that did not matter, then surely something else would. Her ire drawn in knowing that he would rather stand at the helm of Begnion than Daein, that he has no fondness for the nation that birthed him and nothing else (not to say that any such nations are met with warmth within his heart). That he would see it to fall beneath the waves once more, for that is right. That is just, and the land that birthed him never was. If she could see him beside his sun, oh his reason and song, then would she think of him lesser? 

The Maiden of Dawn trusts the Black Knight. That is true. 

But Zelgius would cast that identity aside the moment he could, and if that is at the moment of his death (in which his final breaths are painted with another name, the only name), then what is left in the emptiness? Zelgius could never be the ideal that she sees. She would never know him. 

And perhaps that is his fault in continuing those quiet nothings, those words of protection and safety, but are they not cold enough spoken through ebony and steel? Would she laugh at him in knowing that despite it all, she stands beside the head of the kingdom she opposes (and of course it is not so simple, yet still, is it not?), that it is true that he is reminded of that child in Sienne, grown and yet so young who is the hope of the future if it is to be lived? Is he nothing but a sentimental man, protecting a woman to ensure that he is not deepening the sorrow of a man that has lost the universe and more? Foolish measures, surely, when his goal is carried out, but in emotions that Zelgius has never let go of, he could not be witness to fallen tears that threaten to fill Semper. Or to that child, whose family lays dead among the herons of Serenes, that if instincts are more than foolish thoughts, then she will have what the world has denied of her. Then they all might, and Zelgius would give his life for more than what was commanded of him (for happiness had never been asked of, not in word, though in silent companionship and those moments were they dipped below both of their sorrows). 

“I understand. Then I shall not ask you why you have been absent. I want you to know, I'm happy to see you again. I am very glad you're safe.” 

But she should ask, then maybe it would put an end to this farce (because of course, Zelgius would never step out of line, never act on something that was not bid of him) before it very well kills him. 

And he should apologize. For all that he has said and all that he has not. 

But both the Black Knight and Zelgius are silent. 

(and even at his moment of death and those leading up before, he is silent on her count but an order to protect what little is left of a family for a daughter and father who never had)


End file.
